Today I'd like to share something I do when I feel like panting from my heart, when I feel like expressing love and compassion and sweetness and sharing it through my paintings. It's a very simple and enjoyable exercise of connecting to my heart and feeling of unconditional, free flowing love and then painting that feeling.

Before I start to paint I take a moment to connect to my heart: I sit down in silence, I close my eyes and take a few deep breathes. I shift my focus from my mind, from my head down to my chest, to my heart area and I allow myself to feel it. Sometimes I also put both of the palms of my hands on my chest since I noticed it helps to connect to my heart and how I'm feeling at the moment. I keep on breathing and very soon after that I start feeling soft, warm sensation around my heart area. Then I ask my heart to show me how its love feels like and how it looks like (I say: Dear heart please show me how your love feels like right now.) Then I allow my heart to open up and I observe whatever comes up.

How does love feel like right now? Is it soft and pink and sweet like cotton candy or is it like a festival of colorful, joyful fireworks? Is it delicious and juicy like golden nectar overflowing from an open vessel? Does it feel more mature and serious like, does it feel like sitting in the shade of an old oak tree feeling protected and safe? Or maybe it feels like million bright red roses blossoming at once?

Whatever feels the best, the most accurate I accept it, then stay in that energy for another moment, after that i open my eyes and begin to paint. For example if I experienced love as soft and pink then I begin to paint with pink and white ink and see what happens next, again using my intuition to guide me while painting. Whatever other colors or shapes or patterns I feel like creating I just go ahead and create them trusting in the process and trusting that this imagery I'm creating is the most genuine and honest expression of love at that moment.

This exercise, this way of painting also feels really, really good because all the while I'm painting I feel connected to this energy of unconditional love flowing from my heart through my body and expressing itself on paper and of course it also makes a very rewarding, energizing and very fulfilling experience. If you decide to give it a go I wish you wonderful painting (and if you don't I still wish you a wonderful, fulfilling painting experience :))!